DESCRIPTION (Taken from the applicant's abstract): The University of Puerto Rico (UPR) is a minority institution with ongoing, clinical research. The UPR Medical Sciences Campus (MSC) has faculty members who are engaged in the design and conduct of such research. However, the University does not have a formal didactic program for preparing individuals for careers in clinical research. Minority groups are under represented in the biomedical sciences, so research teams rarely include minority members. Thus, a growing problem in clinical investigation is the difficulty of recruiting minority groups into clinical trials, which especially limits the study of diseases that exhibit significant variation among ethnic groups. This proposal, which represents a joint effort of the UPR-MSC College of Health Related Professions and the School of Medicine, is to initiate a multidisciplinary didactic training program that meets the need among, minority health professionals for formalized academic training in the principles of clinical research. The applicant proposes a planning grant to support the initial assessment needed to begin the development of core courses and the design of a clinical research curriculum leading to a postdoctoral Master in Clinical Research. The program will be designed for faculty members, residents/fellows of participating MSC academic units. Candidates will be doctorally-prepared health professionals. The applicant will form partnerships with the Mayo Clinic and the San Juan Veteran Administration Medical Center to enhance the depth of the curriculum, the faculty, and improve the overall quality of the educational experience. Specific objectives are: 1. Create and ensure support and preparedness of the administrative infrastructure for the development and implementation of a Master of Clinical Research degree program. 2. Establish a Curriculum Development Committee to establish the policies and procedures for curriculum design and implementation of the Master in Clinical Research degree program. 3. Conduct an initial needs assessment involving a determination of the needs of prospective trainees and a review of the current curricula. 4. Develop and prioritize goals and objectives for the curriculum, including 1 ZAR1-JRL-C(M2) 3 1R21 AR48043-01 April 25, 2001 Estape, Estella knowledge and skills objectives for trainees, and process objectives related to the conduct of the curriculum. 5. Prepare and submit to NIH an application requesting support for the actual development and implementation of the clinical research curriculum. 6. Examine training strategies and methods, including distance learning capabilities, resources, and technologies. 7. The research programmatic component will be focused on relevant clinical research areas identified which are of particular significance and concern to the Hispanic population, as well as the priority areas delineated in Healthy People 2010.